As the world pauses to observe the 25th remembrance of the September 11th attacks this year, a photograph that has become one of the defining images of the aftermath of those attacks will also be remembered and featured in many news stories and observance ceremonies. That iconic photo of three firefighters raising the flag over the rubble at Ground Zero was taken by a Walt Whitman High School alumnus - Thomas Franklin, Class of 1984.

Franklin was proudly inducted into the South Huntington Hall of Fame in 2025. The district’s Hall of Fame was established in 2009 to honor alumni who have made a significant impact in their chosen field, their community, and/or on society as a whole since their graduation from Walt Whitman High School. 
 
Before the induction ceremony during Homecoming Weekend 2025, we spoke with Franklin about his memories of that dark day and how the historic photograph came to be taken, and how his work at Ground Zero connected him with the family of a fellow Walt Whitman alum who died that day. This interview is lightly edited for clarity and length.

Q&A 

Let’s go to the day that changed so many lives and this country. Can you bring me back to that morning?
Thomas Franklin: On September 11th, I was a staff photographer at the Bergen Record newspaper, which at the time was a very large suburban New Jersey newspaper just outside New York City. I was in the office early that morning for a meeting. I just got back from the Dominican Republic, where I was working on a story about baseball. I happened to be in the office early that morning. The plane hit the tower. I could see the tower from my office. I quickly ran to my car, started to drive to Manhattan, and the second plane hit. I couldn't get across the river. So I went to Jersey City, and from there I started taking pictures. Eventually I talked my way onto a boat. I got to Ground Zero in the early afternoon. The flag-raising photograph was just one of many photographs I've documented. The photograph has become a symbol of that day.

It's become an iconic symbol of the nation’s resilience, hope, and unity following the attacks.
Thomas Franklin: Yes, but it remains very much a bittersweet thing...the photograph itself. Although the photograph has been widely published and repurposed, including being used on a U.S. postage stamp. The stamp raised $10 million for victims of 9/11. And that's something I'm very proud of. The fact that work that I did as a photojournalist could be used as a tool to help others and raise money for others is something I'm very proud of. But people connect that day with me, and that is a very bittersweet thing because that was one of the worst days in our country's history.

For those of us who are from this area, we can never forget that day. We can never forget the scope of the tragic loss of life that day. Not just the people who died, but the people who were scarred by it because you had hundreds of thousands of members of the families of the people whose lives were lost.

The towers were no longer there. It was just a big dirt pit. When I was there photographing, there was this family wearing the same t-shirt that said ‘We love you, Jim.’ I didn't talk to them. It was not appropriate to approach people there. But I photographed them, and one of the photographs appeared in the newspaper the next day. I asked one of the reporters that I worked with who was at the site that day, “Did you talk to this family wearing the 'We love you, Jim' t-shirts?” And he said, “Yeah, I did,” which was surprising that he had crossed paths with them.

I said to him, “Well, who was Jim?” And he said, “Jim was this guy named James Reilly.” Well, James Reilly was a Walt Whitman High School graduate.
His sister was a grade younger than me. I did not know Jim, he was a couple of years younger than me. But that was like my full circle connection to 9/11, because although I had many friends who survived that day, none of my close friends passed away as a result… Jim's loss has always been particularly personal to me and I always remember him each September 11th. I've since become friends with his family and his friends. 

When you took that shot, was there anything special about it to you at the time?
Thomas Franklin: When I was taking the picture, it was immediately apparent to me that it was very similar to [Associated Press photographer] Joe Rosenthal's photo from Iwo Jima. But that was just happenstance. I was photographing all around the Ground Zero area from 1:30 to 6:00 p.m. Around 5:00 p.m., they stopped search and rescue and we had to evacuate because World Trade Center Building 7 was going to fall. All emergency personnel, search and rescue, evacuated and I did the same.

We were gathered at the southwest corner of Ground Zero. I saw these three firemen fumbling with this flag up on a rise amongst the rubble. I quickly moved into position to see it better. I saw the flag, and took some pictures as they hoisted this flag up the pole.

It was just a moment. The whole sequence of photos that I shot of them doing this was less than two minutes. One of the cool things about digital photography is you can look up the camera information. The picture was made at 5:01, and the whole sequence was less than two minutes. 

The firemen climbed down off the rubble. I walked right past them and went right up to the flag to make a couple of wide-angle single shots of the flag. It didn't seem necessary to talk to them or get their names. I saw the symbolism of what they were doing, but I had just witnessed the two tallest buildings in Manhattan attacked and crumble. To me, that was the story, not the flag.

When I transmitted the pictures back to my newspaper later that afternoon or early evening, my photo editor recognized the importance of what was in the photo. He shared the photo with the Associated Press, and that contributed to the photo going viral.

I would say that this is the first photo that ever went viral, because it was before social media. It was being widely distributed through emails, and the AP had given it to all their members, so other news organizations had access to it.

For years, people would come up to me at least once a day, in the beginning, dozens of times a day, and connect me with September 11th. They would usually have very nice things to say about how important they thought the photograph was, but then they would want to tell me their 9/11 story. Everybody from this area has a 9/11 story. So the photograph remains very bittersweet.

I'm proud that it raised money for victims. I'm proud that people to this day send me letters, emails, phone calls, telling me how much the photograph means to them. But I can never lose sight of the fact that the photo represents thousands of innocent people who lost their lives that day.

I remember seeing the image for the first time and looking at it in a very positive way. When you look at that photo, you see the hope, and the will of a nation to put itself back together.
Thomas Franklin: Thank you. A lot of people see that. A lot of people tell me that they see the hope at a time when the country needed to believe that the country was united and that we would get through this, even though we didn't really know the full extent of what had happened.

Isn't that what a photograph is meant to do? It's meant to evoke emotion, to make you feel something when you look at it.
Thomas Franklin: If a photograph elicits a response from a viewer, it's a successful photograph. Speaking about photojournalism specifically, if it connects with people and makes them feel an emotion, that is the desired goal. The fact that this photograph connected people on such a major scale speaks to the power of photography. Photography is about the relationship between the image and the people looking at the photo. I created the photo, but I'm not part of that relationship. It's the feeling and relationship people have looking at the image. 

What happened after the image went viral?
Thomas Franklin: My life changed a little bit after that day because that photograph was in demand and there were a lot of media requests for me. I was also trying to maintain doing my job as a photojournalist in New Jersey. Nearly 3,000 people didn't come home that day. There was lots of reporting that needed to be done. I wanted to maintain a balance between the notoriety that the photograph brought, and the importance I felt to maintain normalcy and do my job.

I was covering a lot of professional sports at that point in my career. As you may remember, the Yankees were in the playoffs and made it to the World Series. That was my beat. They wanted to take me off that because they needed me to handle media requests, and I was like, "No, I'm not going to do that. I'm going to continue to cover sports," and I did. At that time, I had been on the Today Show two times in the first month, and every program, you name it. I had done interviews, and then they wanted me to go on Oprah Winfrey during the World Series. I said, "No, I love Oprah, but I can't go to Chicago." So they sent a film crew to interview me in Arizona, where the World Series was being played. That was my way of maintaining normalcy and not losing focus on my main purpose: to be a photojournalist.

You had more than 15 minutes of fame, especially for somebody used to being behind the lens rather than the object of the story. It's difficult for journalists to become the focus of a story.
Thomas Franklin: I agree with that. I don't think I had ever been interviewed before 9/11, but I recognized that I had a role to play and that I could speak to the power of photography. My position was that if they wanted to do an interview related to journalism, I would do it. It was important to talk about that.

All these years later, any PTSD from what you saw that day? 
Thomas Franklin: No, thankfully not. I feel fortunate. I do not feel traumatized. The anniversary every year is difficult and emotional. I'm an emotional person, so emotions rise to the top on that anniversary. But the fact that I was able to continue to do my job, make pictures, tell stories, and do what I love helped me. Even when people would see me and relay their 9/11 story to me, there was a therapeutic aspect to that. I don't mind talking about it. It's part of who I am.

 

During his Hall of Fame induction ceremony, Franklin presented the district with a framed, autographed image of the enlarged “Heroes of 2001” commemorative stamp that was issued by the U.S. Postal Service in 2002. It proudly hangs in the Main Office of Walt Whitman High School. The flag from the photo, and Franklin’s historic image, are on display at the 9/11 Memorial & Museum in New York City. 

We thank Thomas Franklin for sharing his story with us. In addition to continuing his career as an award-winning photographer, multimedia journalist, and documentary filmmaker, Franklin is an Associate Professor of Multimedia Journalism at Montclair State University in New Jersey. To learn more about Franklin and his work, visit his website here.

 

 

During his Hall of Fame induction ceremony in 2025, Franklin presented the district with a framed, autographed image of the enlarged “Heroes of 2001” commemorative stamp that was issued by the U.S. Postal Service in 2002.